Visualizing the Immaculate Conception: Donatello, Francesco della Rovere, and the High Altar and Choir Screen at the Church of the Santo in Padua

Abstract

This essay contends that Donatello’s High Altar at the Santo in Padua represents the Immaculate Virgin, reflecting a controversial doctrine of burgeoning interest in fifteenth-century Italy that she was exempted from original sin prior to the first moment of her conception. It ties the altar and scenes on the surrounding choir screen to a sermon promoting the Virgin’s immaculacy by Francesco della Rovere (later Sixtus IV), spoken in Padua in 1448 while the altar was being erected. It further connects the liturgical ensemble with bulls by Sixtus IV and liturgical offices sponsored by him after he was elected pope.

Less Known Iconography of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in the Prague Loreto in Connection with the Teaching of St Lawrence of Brindisi

“…28 As pointed out by Sarah Blake McHam, Donatello's alter is connected directly with the sermons by Sixtus IV. 29 It is proved, for example, in the text in repeated emphasis on Mary's womb and artistic depiction of the figure of the Virgin Mary, who holds Christ very unusually in front of her lap. Similarly, in later works of art, Christ is depicted directly in Mary's womb.…”

“…Similarly, in later works of art, Christ is depicted directly in Mary's womb. 30 McHam also points out that the current state of the altar is not original. Seven main statues, the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, St Francis, St Anthony, St Justina, Daniel, St Louis of Toulouse, and Prosdocimus are now placed in a cascade way on the altar.…”

“…The figures of the significant personalities of the Franciscan order and patron saints of the town were supposed to be roofed with a canopy (lost nowadays) that depicted God the Father shading the Virgin Mary -it means protecting her symbolically against sin. 31 Levi D'Ancona connects Leonardo's composition of the Madonna of the Rocks, which was created for the Franciscan brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception in the Church of St. Francesco Grande in Milan, with the above-mentioned Milan monk Bernardino de'Busti. The creation of the painting was initiated by the approval of de'Busti's new immaculate liturgy of the hours.…”